Chuwit Kamolvisit, leader of the Love Thailand Party, raises his arms as he is surrounded and reviled by anti-government protesters in Bangkok on Dec. 3.

Maverick politician Chuwit Kamolvisit got into a fight with an antigovernment protester attempting to prevent him from voting Sunday morning. Mr. Chuwit, formerly one of Thailand’s most successful massage parlor operators, was walking with an entourage toward a polling station near his home off Ratchadapisek Road when a man wearing the red-white-and-blue of Thailand’s national flag charged at him, hitting him on the head. Mr. Chuwit, whose shirt was torn open in the melee, wrestled with the unidentified protester and appeared to hold him in a headlock before the politician briefly fell on his backside. His security guards dragged the attacker away.

Mr. Chuwit, leader of the small Love Thailand Party, is one of the country’s most colorful political figures and seldom shies away from a fight. After quitting the massage parlor business to run for political office, he has built his political career on exposing corruption and other wrongdoings, especially within Thailand’s police force.

He told reporters on the scene of the scuffle that he won’t be pressing charges against his attacker. The brief beating his guards inflicted on the man appeared to have been punishment enough.

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